The Rand is a ten to one exchange. That is a bit unheard of.
In just 10 days, the Australian dollar has fallen from US103¢ to US97.4¢. The sudden fall has been so sharp one currency strategist described it as a ''falling knife''....
...In short, the first trigger was the sudden rallying of the US dollar against the yen and other currencies last Thursday night in New York.
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The US dollar broke through the significant psychological barrier of 100 yen and sent its Australian counterpart into free fall.
That pushed the dollar past its own psychological barrier of US101.50¢ and it didn't take long for the currency to drop through parity on Friday night. The Australian currency continued to fall over the past week, while the greenback kept strengthening....
As optimism grows about the US economy amid growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve could wind back its ''quantitative easing'' money-printing strategy by the end of this year, investors were once again turning to other fundamentals that drive the Australian dollar, such as the Chinese economy, commodity prices and the mining investment outlook, Mr Gibbs said....
You guys are playing too much. The dollar is causing a global currency crisis in a strong market. I knew the Dow was too strong. It didn't make sense.
The mine strike has little to nothing to do with the fall in the Rand. The US Dollar is stronger than other currencies and are causing instability.
The instability is being noted in commodities more so than anything else. All countries need resources such as energy and it will make the cost of living skyrocket in nations with high imports. In countries with deficit trade balances there will be far less buying power to their monies and the cost of living will backlash in the global economy.
We are on the verge if not already beginning a global recession. This is going to make austerity look like a nightmare of incredible proportion.
Posted about 2 hours ago
South African Rand (ZAR) Exchange Rate - Rand tumbles to a four-year low against the US Dollar (click here)
The South African Rand has tumbled to a four-year low against the US Dollar due to mounting concerns that further labour unrest in the platinum mining sector could inflict further and wide reaching damage to the South African economy.
Calls for workers to stay away from working at Anglo Platinum mines was largely ignored on Friday as workers defied calls for protests over the company’s plans to cut 6,000 jobs in a bid to bring the world’s largest platinum producer back into profit. Violent protests cost mines 15 billion rand ($1.6 billion) in lost revenue last year and contributed to the rand’s 5.6 percent slide in the past six months.
Despite no incidents being reported on Friday the possibility for further strike action remains high as unions and worker committees remain opposed to the planned jobs cuts. Rand traders in particular are proving jittery over the situation....
Bernanake has to stop purchasing assets NOW ! The US Dollar is too strong.
* San Francisco Fed's Williams say Fed could end QE this year
* Dollar index near its July peak
* Dollar/yen near 4 1/2-year high, euro near 6-week low
By Anirban Nag
LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - The dollar rose (click here) against a basket of currencies on Friday, hovering near a 10-month high as debate over whether the Federal Reserve would wind down its asset buying programme later this year gathered pace.
The dollar's strength, along with expectations that the European Central Bank could introduce negative deposit rates, the rate at which banks park surplus funds with it, kept the euro pinned down to recent six-week lows.
The dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of six majorcurrencies, rose 0.4 percent to 83.886, nearing a 10-month high of 84.094 set on Wednesday. A break of its July peak of 84.10 would see it rise to its highest in nearly three years....
